THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1903. 



by a color comparison based on money equivalent weight. 

 This weight is determined for any lot of samples under consid- 

 eration by calculating how much of each is obtainable at some 

 given price, generally the lowest quotation being selected as 

 this price. The calculated amounts are carefully weighed on a 

 sensitive scale. One weighing to grains is sufficiently accu- 

 rate. Uniform amounts of white lead paste ground in oil are 

 next weighed, one for each color sample, and placed at conve- 

 nient distances apart on a sheet of glass. With an ordinary 

 spatula or palette knife each money equivalent weight of color 

 is thoroughly mixed with one of the portions of white lead. In 

 this way a series of tinted leads will be obtained with color suf- 

 ficiently diluted to show plainly the variations in strength of 

 the original pigments. To express the differences quantita- 

 tively all the samples must be brought to the same tint by the 

 addition of weighed amounts of lead to the stronger samples, 

 and the percentage variation determined with reference to one 

 sample as standard. 



The following example will serve to illustrate the method of 

 figuring an actual test : Two oxides of iron, A and B, are to be 

 compared ; A costs 6 cents per pound and B 8 cents. The 

 money equivalent weights will therefore be for A 4 parts and 

 for B 3 parts for the same money. Weigh out samplesof A and B 

 in these proportions — say 20 grains of A and 15 grains of B— and 

 thoroughly mix each of these samples with one ounce of white 

 lead paste. Supposing 

 that sample B when so 

 mixed is still strongly 

 enough colored to 

 require one ounce more 

 of lead to match 

 mixture A, it follows 

 that B is 100 per cent, 

 stronger on the basis 

 of money equivalent 

 weight. In other words, 

 a pound of B at 8 cents 

 will do as much coloring 

 as two pounds of A cost- 

 ing I2cents — oranactual 

 saving in favor of the 

 higher priced color by 

 reducing the amount re- 

 quired. This illustra- 

 tion is a very moderate 



instance of the actual differences in value observable in practice. 

 In the case of blacks the variations are frequently enormous. 



It should be noted that by preparing a color card from each 

 sample tested, a permanent record of the colors may be ob- 

 tained. Such cards, carefully marked, with date and notes of 

 the test, will prove a valuable help in maintaining the grade 

 of goods desired. Every reputable color dealer will welcome 

 comparisons of his goods based on " money equivalent weights" 

 as explained above. The ease, accuracy, and profit with which 

 these tests can be made should bring them to the favorable 

 consideration of every factory superintendent. 



is now a permanent part of the works of the Hood Rubber Co., 

 at Watertown, Massachusetts. The hospital is equipped with 

 everything in the way of instruments, bandages, lint, and anti- 

 septics that the treatment of sprains, bruises, cuts, or fractures 

 may demand. In addition, there is a good stock of the reme- 

 dies usual to dispensary practice. The room, besides the usual 

 electric lights, has two large arc lights, an electric water 

 heater, a surgeon's operating table, and various minor applian- 

 ces. A careful record of all cases treated is kept, the number 

 for the first eight months of 1903 being 1778. Not only is the 

 hospital useful in accident cases, but it has been found most 

 valuable in determining and stamping out contagious diseases. 

 For example, within a twelvemonth both diphtheria and Ger- 

 man measles were detected. The cases were at once isolated 

 and the diseases eradicated before having a chance to become 

 epidemic. A competent physician is in charge of the hospital 

 and the work he has done is much appreciated by both the 

 company and their 2300 employes. 



RUBBER NOTES FROM EUROPE. 



A RUBBER FACTORY HOSPITAL. 



A RUBBER FACTORY HOSPITAL. 



ALTHOUGH few very serious accidents occur in rubber 

 factories, there are a great many minor ones, particu- 

 larly where a large force is employed. The prompt treatment 

 of such accidents not only obviates much suffering, but is a 

 definite time and money saver. The illustration shows a cor- 

 ner of the emergency hospital that, started as an experiment, 



THE TIRE SITUATION IN GERMANY. 



A WRITER in the Gummi Zeiiung on the tire situation 

 mentions that orders for bicycle tires generally are 

 placed with the factories during the autumn months. Last 



autumn no one could 

 have foreseen the ad- 

 vance which has taken 

 place in the cost of^crude 

 rubber — amounting to 

 33 X 3 per cent, at the time 

 the article was written — 

 and manufacturers in 

 consequence have not 

 found their business re- 

 munerative. Already 

 the tire business yielded 

 only small profits, since 

 the decline in the prices 

 of bicycles, due in part 

 to overproduction, had 

 imparted a certain de- 

 pression to tire prices. 

 In accepting orders for 

 1904 the rubber manu- 

 facturers will be forced to ask higher prices, not only because 

 of the increased cost of rubber, but because of the advance in 

 cotton fabrics as well. The Gummi-Zeiiung writer counsels 

 tire manufacturers not to permit the higher cost of materials to 

 tempt them to lower their standards of quality. It would be 

 desirable, he says, if manufacturers of bicycles should demand 

 higher prices for their output, to correspond with the higher 

 cost of rubber products, though he fails to point out what influ- 

 ence the rubber trade can have in this direction. But it is in- 

 teresting to hear from bicycle manufacturers and dealers that 

 their experience with cheap tires has been very unsatisfactory, 

 which fact may be helpful to the tire manufacturers in their in- 

 sistence upon maintaining the quality of tires. 

 GREAT BRITAIN. 



George R. Brown & Co., 3. Jewry street, Aldgate, E. C, 

 London, have arranged to represent the Northern Rubber Co., 

 of Retford, Notts, England, in the sale of their mechanical rub- 

 ber goods in the London trade. Mr. Brown began his connec- 

 tion with the trade at an early age, in the employ of the North 

 British Rubber Co., Limited. 



